


Another Life

by chronicAngel



Series: Leaves in the Summer [48]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Drabble, F/M, Fluff, Forbidden Love, Newborn Children, No Dialogue, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-09 17:11:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12280860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chronicAngel/pseuds/chronicAngel
Summary: When he holds her pink-faced infant son with an expertise she never would have expected, she can't help but picture another life.





	Another Life

Her father used to tell her of when they were born, one day apart, one of them so tired and fussing when he was held, the other bright-eyed and refusing to be put down. Even from birth, they were opposites; after all, a flower needs sunlight to grow, and Shikamaru is nothing but shadows and darkness. She let herself get lost in that darkness, once, but she isn't going to do that again.

Still, when he holds her pink-faced infant son with an expertise she never would have expected, she can't help but picture another life where this is their child, _together_. Where his wisp of blond hair is the same darkness that shrouds the head of the Nara clan, but he still has her startlingly blue eyes. He doesn't have the pallid complexion of a former monster or a broken porcelain doll of a woman, but the subtle tan of a man who spent years in a desert away from home. He is a healthy child, the pride of not only the Yamanaka clan, but the Nara clan too. Even as she knows that's not possible, the voices of their fathers ringing in her head and making her heart ache, her focus snapping back into reality as Temari enters the room with their wailing two-month-old and Karui follows behind with a hefty four-month-old that grabs at her mother's cheeks, she can't help but let a tired smile settle on her face at the thought that maybe, in that other life, it is possible. It would have been nice to learn more about that life, to peek into the world where her real love is not forbidden. She feels guilt pierce her heart as her husband rests a pale hand on her shoulder.


End file.
